VisitBritain defends home-grown tourism after new report brands country 'appalling' for visitors

VisitBritain has stepped in to defend its tourism policies after the country was branded ‘appalling’ in the WEF Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report published on Monday.

Though Britain came seventh out of 139 countries – a jump of four from 2009 which lifted the country above Spain – the authors of the report grumbled about the high taxes, poor marketing campaigns and attitude we Brits have towards visitors.

But VisitBritain hit back and highlighted that, in fact, with the Royal Wedding, the Golden Jubilee and the 2012 Games coming up, there has never been a better time to come to the UK as a tourist.

Popular: With tourists' fascination with the Royal Family, and a number of key dates coming up, VisitBritain believe that the UK will improve on the seventh place finish in the WEF report next year

The results of the WEF Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report were released on Monday and the seventh place Britain achieved was largely down to high standards of public health, the current level of air services and availability of car hire, and an improvement in price due to a lower exchange rate of sterling over the last two years.

But the detail of the report was damning and report co-author Thea Chiesa, World Economic Forum head of aviation, travel and tourism, told Travel Weekly: ‘The UK is appalling on all the tourism-related activities.’

Fellow co-author Jennifer Blanke, lead economist at the World Economic Forum, added: ‘The infrastructure is all there in developed economies, but then governments mess it up with their policy.

‘The UK should be leading on marketing and branding but it is at 43. Even the timeliness of its reporting is poor.’

Britain’s poorest result was in the category concerned with tax and airport charges, where it ranked a lowly 134th out of the 139 countries.

Criticised: The WEF reporters blasted tourism in the UK for high taxes, poor branding and marketing and high fuel prices, in particular

And the UK came 116th when concerned with the level of fuel prices – a figure that will surely get worse, with petrol as high as £6 per gallon now.

Elsewhere, the UK was placed 84th on government expenditure on travel and tourism, at number 43 on the effectiveness of its marketing and branding, and at number 46 on the timeliness of providing tourism data.

In addition Britain finished in 50th place in the ‘time required to start a business’ category and at number 34 in the ‘transparency of government policy-making’.

And the UK is ranked at 89th for ‘tourism openness’ and at 74th in the WEF assessment of how welcoming Brits are to tourists.

Defending Britain: Patricia Yates of VisitBritain believes that there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful about tourism in the UK

But, in an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Patricia Yates, Director of Strategy and Communications at VisitBritain, defended tourism in the UK and said: ‘We need to celebrate what we are good at.

‘We must not beat ourselves up - we have different policies compared to other countries, and there are very good reasons for doing that.

'This survey says that the UK is one of the top ten destinations internationally, so I don't think we are doing too badly.

'It is fascinating because while we have gone up in the standings this allows us to pin-point where we can improve.

‘And it is important to consider who our core competitors are, and how we are doing compared to them.’

On the individual criticisms, firstly the high taxes, Yates continued: ‘We know that taxes are high at the moment and that is because we gone through a period of fiscal difficulty. The likelihood of those things being adjusted in the near future is unlikely.

‘But our competitors have similarly high taxes and we need to do better collectively.

‘The industry has talked about a preferential rate of tax - which is something that France have got, for example, but still rated at 126th - but there is a considerable taxation on inbound customers, in particular.

‘You have to consider, though, that for a few years we have had a huge advantage in the tourism industry as our currency has been weak.

‘We have been able to take advantage of that and market Britain as a much better value as a destination that other European cities, for example.

‘We would hope that as our economy improves and the Sterling strengthens the Government will look at overall taxation levels and think about the readjustment.

‘So if you are an overseas visitor, yes taxes are high but you don't judge a holiday by how much the taxes are.

‘Again, with the fuel, the high Sterling rate has not helped us, but tourists visiting here do get good value overall.’

When asked about the poor results in the marketing and branding, Yates countered by insisting ‘we have a very clear brand'.

Big draw: The marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton in April is expected to boost the number of tourists

Boost: Yates thinks that the Olympic Games, to be hosted by London next year, will be another big help for tourism in Britain

With Prince William marrying Kate Middleton in late April, the Queen and Prince Phillip celebrating their Diamond Jubilee next year - as well as London hosting the Olympic Games - it is expected that Britain's seventh place will improve.

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Yates continued: 'With the new Government coming in, we want to make the most of the opportunities coming up, such as the Olympics, the Royal Wedding and the Diamond Jubilee.

‘There is now a £100million marketing pot and a huge new political push on tourism, which is seen as being part of the growth agenda and will provide jobs and opportunities - people will benefit right across the country.

‘To support that, we have the chance to showcase Britain.

‘We have some great events that we need to capitalise on. This is our moment.'

Yates concluded: ‘We are pretty good at tourism and we have these events coming up and, helped with the political drive, we will have to hope that we can do better next year.

‘We are pleased to be moving in the right direction and at being in the top ten.

‘We have huge ambitions, and we want to build and grow tourism and to use the opportunities that we have in the coming couple of years.’